1.0.9g - Released 17 January 2023

* Lost Luck Silver Mine, in the Temple Rocks area, is now explorable. Start a new game to explore the mine -- in new games, there are two miner's lanterns outside the mine, be sure to pick one up before going inside.
* Miner achievement for reaching deepest point in Lost Luck mine.
* Three new dens.
* Six new rendezvous sites.
* Toggle in Game Settings: Gameplay to disable the Low FPS alert.

* Modest increase of odds of cougar attack on homesite.
* Gore dialog now appears after killing an animal with different gore options (had been appearing on snowshoe hare).
* Reduced brightness in scent view when snow is on the ground In non-winter seasons.
* Snow accumulated on animals now melts quickly when indoors.
* Collector's Cache achievement can now be earned in LR as well as SC, and the requirement in either is to have eight collectible objects at your den.
* When jumping to next year, your pack name is the default selection at the end of Establish Territory quest.
* Some reductions in memory usage when going from one game scene to another.
* Terrain and water refinements.
* In Lost River, more tall grass patches added in downtown area.

* Improved NPC pathfinding around the boulders below cliffs.
* More tall grass patches added in downtown area.
* Added a few more days in Find Mate quest before winter season begins.
* Foam now appears around wolves in all LR water bodies, including hot springs. (Did not before due to new water shaders in LR.)
* New LR-specific set of suggested pack names when naming your pack.
* Numbering of wolves in Lost River rival packs now starts at higher numbers than one (in new games only).
* Reduced pitted/jagginess of deep snow surface around rocky areas.

* Multiplayer: If host has already earned a multiplayer achievement, then players in that session won't earn it if unlocked. (Recent regression from another fix a few weeks ago.)
* In Photo Mode, the camera icon changes position based on HUD scaling.
* For multi-part achievements, Achievement Progress alert appears even after achievement has been unlocked.

* If it rains after snowfall, snow coverage is inconsistent between some terrain sections, creating odd lines.
* There are no bull elk in large elk herds in autumn.

* Multiplayer: In Cattle Ranch area, several issues with player-wolf getting stuck against fence or running unstoppably.
* Multiplayer: In certain situations, cattle ranch fence break and deterrents are not synce correctly between host and other players.
* In winter, the scent glow on many dirt dens is blocked by the snow mound.
* Wolves float too high in the water in some creeks.
* Leaves blow around the player when indoors.
* Beavers carry branches when going away from water, instead of when returning to it.
* Dead dog airborne scents are not the X icon.
* Distant animal vocalizations aren't audible in some seasons.
* Error in German Shepherd dog might cause issues when it's traveling.
* When snow is present in main menu, the distant hills don't have snow.
* In certain circumstances, non-host players can change the name of the pack in multiplayer games.
* In certain locations, newborns can spawn outside of tall grass patches.
* When setting up a multiplayer game, if the game cannot connect to the selected region, the player is often unable to choose another region and try again.
* Wolf growl audio keeps playing if player chooses another emote during thethx growl.
* There are no bull elk in large elk herds in autumn.
* Rival pack scent post near the Blades is just outside the correct hex.
* Natural Landmarks achievement: Blades location should unlock during Endless Summer, but does not.
* In Early Spring, tree at densite in Monday Gulch is offset from den.
* Allison Acres houses don't load soon enough when entering that area from the hilltop.
* Various issues with dens and terrain.

The next patch, v1.0.9g, is now in public beta on Steam for Windows and MacOS. This has some things that we just couldn't quite get done for the Lost River DLC release last month, so we set them aside. These include three new dens and seven new rendezvous sites. We've also made the Lost Luck silver mine (in the Temple Rocks area) explorable -- but be sure to pick up a miner's lantern before venturing into the darkness! (These lanterns are only available in new games, not in existing saves.)



With Lost River released, we are now focusing on the WolfQuest Saga. Tommi has been working on a major overhaul of the AI system for many months -- as usual, that took longer than expected -- but we're ready to make good progress on the Saga and the Tower Fall DLC map now. In the Saga, your wolf family will continue on over the years, continuously, as pups grow up and new pups are born. Our video Where No WolfQuest Has Gone Before has more information about our plan for the Saga. Stay tuned for updates!



BUGS FIXED:
* Multiplayer: If host has already earned a multiplayer achievement, then players in that session won't earn it if unlocked. (Recent regression from another fix a few weeks ago.)
* Sometimes the ranch dog floats in air.
* Various issues with dens and terrain.
________________________________


BUGS FIXED:
* In certain circumstances, the game freezes on a black screen after choosing a den in early spring.
* Lost River Natural Landmarks achievement: Blades location should unlock during Endless Summer, but does not.
________________________________


BUGS FIXED:
* Low FPS Alert appears in main menu when it shouldn't.
* For multi-part achievements, Achievement Progress alert appears even after achievement has been unlocked.
* Lost River: New rock den in northwest area is black at night.
* In Early Spring, tree at densite in Monday Gulch is offset from den.
* Invisible obstacles at new rock den in northeast area.
* Allison Acres houses don't load soon enough when entering that area from the hilltop.
* Some issues with camera clipping and teleporting in silver mine (possibly fixed).
* Terrain issues.
________________________________



NEW:
* Toggle in Game Settings: Gameplay to disable the Low FPS alert.

IMPROVEMENTS:
* Modest increase of odds of cougar attack on homesite.
* Gore dialog now appears after killing an animal with different gore options (had been appearing on snowshoe hare).

BUG FIXED in SLOUGH CREEK:
* If it rains after snowfall, snow coverage is inconsistent between some terrain sections, creating odd lines.

BUGS FIXED in LOST RIVER:
* Distant animal vocalizations aren't audible in some seasons.
* Error in German Shepherd dog might cause issues when it's traveling.
* Silver mine isn't pitch-black when shadows are completely disabled.
* Saving and reloading game when player-wolf is in one spot in silver mine results in wolf spawning underground.
* Multiplayer: In certain situations, cattle ranch fence break and deterrents are not syncec correctly between host and other players.
* Rival pack scent post near the Blades is just outside the correct hex.
* On one trail at Allison Acres, beavers carry sticks from water instead of to water.
* Minor terrain issues.
_________________


NOTE: Game saves in this beta are NOT compatible with the last patch: any new games or newly-saved games will be broken if you switch back to 1.0.8e (but will work again once this patch is released). Multiplayer is also not backward-compatible: you can only play with others who have this beta.

NEW:
* Lost Luck Silver Mine is now explorable. Start a new game to explore the mine -- in new games, there are two miner's lanterns outside the mine, be sure to pick one up before going inside.
* Miner achievement for reaching deepest point in Lost Luck mine.
* Three new dens.
* Six new rendezvous sites.

IMPROVEMENTS:
* Improved NPC pathfinding around the boulders below cliffs.
* Reduced brightness in scent view when snow is on the ground In non-winter seasons.
* Added a few more days in Find Mate quest before winter season begins.
* Snow accumulated on animals now melts quickly when indoors.
* Collector's Cache achievement can now be earned in LR as well as SC, and the requirement in either is to have eight collectible objects at your den.
* When jumping to next year, your pack name is the default selection at the end of Establish Territory quest.
* Foam now appears around wolves in all LR water bodies, including hot springs. (Did not before due to new water shaders in LR.)
* In Lost River, there's now a new set of suggested pack names when naming your pack.
* Numbering of wolves in Lost River rival packs now starts at higher numbers than one.
* Some reductions in memory usage when going from one game scene to another.
* Reduced pitted/jagginess of deep snow surface around rocky areas.
* Terrain and water refinements.
* In Lost River, more tall grass patches added in downtown area.

BUGS FIXED:
* In Slough Creek and Lost River, there are no bull elk in large elk herds in autumn.
* When snow is present in main menu, the distant hills don't have snow.
* In certain circumstances, non-host players can change the name of the pack in multiplayer games.
* In certain locations, newborns can spawn outside of tall grass patches.
* When setting up a multiplayer game, if the game cannot connect to the selected region, the player is often unable to choose another region and try again.
* Wolf growl audio keeps playing if player chooses another emote during the growl.
* There are no bull elk in large elk herds in autumn, in Slough Creek and Lost River.

BUGS FIXED in LOST RIVER:
* In multiplayer games, several issues with player-wolf getting stuck against fence or unstoppably running in Cattle Ranch area.
* In winter, the scent glow on many dirt dens is blocked by the snow mound.
* Wolves float too high in the water in some creeks.
* Leaves blow around the player when indoors.
* Beavers carry branches when going away from water, instead of when returning to it.
* Dead dog airborne scents are not the X icon.
* Various minor terrain and water issues.

_____________________________
1) In the Steam app, go to your Library, then right-click on the WolfQuest: AE name in the left column and choose Properties.
2) Then go to the Betas tab and select the WQ current Beta option in the pulldown. No password is necessary. Steam should then start downloading it. Later you can switch back to the public version in that Betas tab, by selecting NONE in that pulldown.

BUG FIXED: Many species of animals don't spawn.

* Lost River rival pack has more variety in appearance, and others also have more variety in eye color.
* Made it a bit easier to escape from ranch trap.
* Reduced brightness of cardinal direction letters on the compass.

* Trekker and Long Distance Traveler achievements unlockable only for the initial journey from a den to rendezvous site. (Now unlockable when moving from one rendezvous site to another.)
* Some music tracks start over after a few seconds.
* Some dirt dens still don't glow in scent view.
* Multiple coffee mugs can be found in single-player games.
* Scent posts sometimes float too high above the ground.
* If player-wolf is in ranch area after sunrise, rancher takes too long to shoot and kill them.
* In multiplayer, ranch trap sometimes stays on player after they escape it.
* Issues in main menu wolf carousel after specific sequence of actions.
* Mate's scent glow is visible when inside den.
* Mate has trouble navigating in certain situations.
* NPCs try to climb instead of traveling around certain obstacles.
* Newborn calves and fawns can spawn outside tall grass patch in areas with structures.
* Occasionally there are no snowflakes falling when snow starts to accumulate on the ground.
* Downtown buildings are elevated a bit in certain circumstances.
* Animals still spawn in Floppy's enclosure.
* Dead dogs still don't smell.
* Mate has trouble navigating inside the glass house.
* NPCs have trouble navigating through boulders at the base of cliffs.
* Player wolves can get stuck if going uphill when reaching map border.
* Can't unlock Blades sub-achievement in Endless Summer
* Many minor fixes and refinements to environment and other elements.

Thank you to all of you who have purchased the new Lost River DLC map! We really appreciate it, and we've enjoyed seeing players explore and experience the map! We have now added the new music from this map to the WolfQuest original soundtrack, and also the old Music Extras DLC pack. There are nine new tracks, all composed and performed by Tim Buzza. In the game, you hear these when you're exploring the human areas of the map, and a few other select locations. We think Tim once again hit it out of the park with these tracks, and we know a lot of you agree. There's now over three hours of music in the soundtrack -- and the price is still $10, so if you haven't purchased it, no worries, the price isn't going up.



Purchase the soundtrack on Steam.

We've also begin adding art from Lost River to our RedBubble store: the new town sign painting by Rolin, some achievement icons by Loach, and some of the new dream images by Susan. We'll be adding more in the future too. Check them out! https://wolfquest.redbubble.com/

Thanks to everyone who has supported WolfQuest this year. We're going strong and have a lot of great stuff still to come, so stay with us!
_________________________

The WolfQuest saga will continue! Stay tuned for more news in upcoming devblogs about it and other new features!

Once the game is completed on PC/Mac, we will turn our attention to other platforms.

We do not announce specific release dates. We will release them when they are ready.

Game saves and multiplayer are both compatible with the last released patch, 1.0.9d, so you can switch back and forth, and play games with others who have that patch.


* Made it a bit easier to escape from ranch trap.
* Adjusted color of cardinal direction letters on the compass (were initially adjusted in beta 2, but too faint).

* Giant floating capsule has returned from whence it came.
* Mate has trouble navigating in certain situations.
* NPCs try to climb instead of traveling around certain obstacles.
* Newborn calves and fawns can spawn outside tall grass patch in areas with structures.
* Occasionally there are no snowflakes falling when snow starts to accumulate on the ground.
* Scent posts adjust vertical position too frequently when snow depth is changing.
* Various minor terrain and environment issues.


* Lost River rival pack has more variety in appearance, and others also have more variety in eye color.

* Downtown buildings are elevated a bit in certain circumstances.
* Animals still spawn in Floppy's enclosure.
* Dead dogs still don't smell.
* Mate has trouble navigating inside the glass house.
* NPCs have trouble navigating through boulders at the base of cliffs.
* Player wolves can get stuck if going uphill when reaching map border.
* Can't unlock Blades sub-achievement in Endless Summer
* Many minor fixes and refinements to environment and other elements.
_____________________________


* Trekker and Long Distance Traveler achievements unlockable only for the initial journey from a den to rendezvous site. (Now unlockable when moving from one rendezvous site to another.)
* Some music tracks start over after a few seconds.
* If player-wolf is in ranch area after sunrise, rancher takes too long to shoot and kill them.
* Some dirt dens still don't glow in scent view.
* Various minor terrain issues.
_____________________________
1) In the Steam app, go to your Library, then right-click on the WolfQuest: AE name in the left column and choose Properties.
2) Then go to the Betas tab and select the WQ current Beta option in the pulldown. No password is necessary. Steam should then start downloading it. Later you can switch back to the public version in that Betas tab, by selecting NONE in that pulldown.

Pups-running-away bug is fixed now, sorry about that
_______________

v1.0.9d

* Optimized queries to WolfQuest game account on server, to reduce server load.
* Unclaimable hexes around the cattle ranch are now tinted gray, to be clearer that they are unclaimable.
* Reduced effect of difficulty level when struggling to escape from ranch trap.
* Rival pack wolves in Lost River now have varying attributes.

* Animals can still spawn in Floppy's enclosure.
* Pups won't enter tall grass a northeast rendezvous site.
* Multiplayer Lobby: Some info not shown in preview panel for Lost River map.
* In Merriweather house, wolf can glitch into a closed room, forever entombed there.
* Lost River collectible objects don't glow in scent view.
* Blank achievement alert appears at certain times.
* Don't Throw Stones achievement doesn't register if visited in late summer (during Endless Summer quest).
* Blades landmark sub-achievement doesn't register if visited in early spring (during Find Den quest).
* In summertime, red maple tree at Monday Gulch den grows 2x in size.
* Trekker and Long-Distance Traveler achievements now indicate distance traveled in the notification, and do not appear if player has already unlocked achievement for that distance, to avoid confusion.
* Various den issues (den opening shrinking not enlarging when being dug out; one den without a hole in the ground; many dens don't glow in scent view)
* Dachshund levitates when swimming.
* Dead dogs don't smell.
* Can't climb onto bed in hunting lodge.
* Various issues with NPC pathfinding.
* In certain spots, players can get stuck when leaving the cattle ranch once daytime arrives.
* Many terrain, water, and environment issues (potholes, gaps in terrain or deep snow, etc.)

We've made some optimizations of the WQ user account system on the server, which should greatly reduce the server load. A patch coming soon will also have further optimizations, so we are optimistic that we won't be seeing significant issues with logging into your account and registering achievements in your account. Very sorry about the troubles over the past five days!

* Collectibles don't glow in scent view.
* Some rocks are black on low-quality object setting.
* Pup and mate pathfinding issues at a couple dens.
* Player-wolf can't enter doghouse near downtown.
* Some other terrain and environment issues.

Obviously the WolfQuest server is having trouble handling the many people playing the game since the Lost River map release. First, thank you all for buying the DLC! We really appreciate it. But it's very frustrating that during peak times, you can't always log in or stay logged into your account (which is necessary to earn achievements). We've made some changes on the server to help with this, and are looking at more improvements, both in the short-term and the long-term. In the meantime, we ask for your patience. Very sorry about the trouble and frustration!